


Once upon a dream

by HoshiYuki



Category: Heart no Kuni no Alice | Alice in the Country of Hearts
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23443450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoshiYuki/pseuds/HoshiYuki
Summary: When we sleep, we dream. The perfect time for our subconscious to mess with us. Left free to do as it pleases.That is, unless our dreams are taken over by another.Alice loves when that happens.---Heart no Kuni no Alice (first game) complacent. In this work, Alice chose to live with Julius in the tower.Old work - originally posted years ago on a different platform.
Relationships: Nightmare Gottschalk/Alice Liddell
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Once upon a dream

**Author's Note:**

> To gauge my growth, what better than to share an old story that was buried in the depths of the internet?  
> This work is a two shot that was originally posted on LJ years ago.
> 
> It presumes some basic understanding of the universe; there are hints to things that happened in the game.  
> In this work Alice chose to live with Julius. Also remember that Alice has a bit of a temper on her.
> 
> At time of writing, I had only played the original Heart no Kuni no Alice game.  
> I'd later play some of the other games (Clover and Joker), but never finished writing the stories for those.  
> 

Alice lay in Julius’s bed, observing the clock-maker work another night away.

“Are you sure you do not want to go to sleep?”

“I just had a break. Go ahead and rest, Alice. I still have work to do.”

Alice flopped on her back, heaving a sigh. There was no helping this man.

“Good night, Julius.”

“Hmm.” The sound was the only thing that signified he had heard her and was the last her tired mind registered before falling asleep.

~~~

Opening her eyes, she was met with the vibrant colours of the nothingness of the dream world. Here there was no up or down, no left or right. No walls, no ceiling, no floor, no objects, nothing but rainbow coloured nothingness. Alice felt like she was floating in a soap bubble every time she came here.

She liked this place.

Not because of its shapelessness, not because she could fly, not even because none of the laws of physics applied (truth be told, that was actually one of the things she disliked about this place; she liked physics). No, it meant that she had been protected from having a nightmare.

That, or a certain needle-phobic demon felt like seeing her again.

Strong arms suddenly grabbed her from behind, holding her in a strong embrace as a voice whispered close to her ear.

“Good dream, Alice.”

 _Definitely the second reason,_ she thought. “Let go, Nightmare,” she said, nonplussed.

“What kind of greeting is that?” he responded, not letting go.

 _Infuriating man._ Alice’s thoughts got ahead of her.

“Maybe so, but you like me like that, don’t you.”

“You read my mind again, didn’t you,” she accused, temper flaring.

“But…”

“Didn’t you?”

“When you do not shield your thoughts, I can read them without even trying,” the man whined.

“Stop acting like a kid.”

“But you know, Alice,” Nightmare said, dropping his tone a few octaves and leaning in closer. Alice could feel his breath tickle her ear. “I was both an adult as well as a child from the start. I am ageless.” His lips were dangerously close to her ear now and Alice could not repress a shudder. She hoped he had not felt her tremble, but could not be bothered to linger too long on that thought, because at that moment she had found a weakening in Nightmare’s hold. Within seconds she was free.

She belatedly realized that his weakened hold may have had something to do with her reaction to him. Also belatedly she noticed that there was a temperature difference in the dream world; it was colder than when she was in Nightmare’s arms.

“The cold is a remnant of your original dream, it seems,” Nightmare answered her unspoken question. Looking like he was recalling a nearly lost dream he mumbled, “rain… Cold rain…”

A pang of awareness shot through Alice. She felt like she should remember that dream, felt like it was something important. But, as quickly as the feeling had come, it disappeared again. She sighed and looked at the man in front of her.

“You look terrible, you know.” It really was a shame, she thought. Without that eternal deathly glow to his face, he would surely look like your average model. A model with a horrid fashion sense, but she could grow used to his clothes.

“Maybe you already have.”

“Maybe,” she hummed in agreement, before catching herself. “Damn you. Stop that!”

“Then guard your thoughts,” Nightmare exclaimed. “Besides it is bad manners to think that of someone’s attire.”

“It is bad manners to **say** that of someone’s attire. Thinking is a different matter,” Alice replied haughtily.

“You just said that I looked horrible,” he grumpily reminded her.

“That is because you do.”

An unintelligible sound left Nightmare’s throat, but to his credit he did not continue the argument. Sadly, rather than giving him credit, Alice felt like giving Nightmare some more of her mind.

_If only he went to the hospital. They could fix him right up and he would as bright as day. I would like to see that once._

“Really?” He asked in a tiny voice, before catching himself. “But, but. No. I will not go.”

“A shame.”

…

…

“That’s it?”

“What do you mean?” Alice asked innocently. She had no desire to continue this discussion today, but if the dream demon felt like digging his own grave, she would not stop him.

Nightmare knew better than to reply though. “Nothing.”

…

…

The silence stretched and Alice’s mind began to wander. She had had multiple dreams in which she met up with Nightmare and most of them had been fun. She smiled a little when she remembered a particular dream in which he had had wanted to entertain her even though he wasn’t feeling too well. An idea struck.

“Nightmare?”

“Hmm?”

“If you’re up for it…” She didn’t finish her sentence, instead picturing her request in her mind.

“Sure,” he said. Smiling a little, he held out his hand and waited for her to move. When she had put her hand in his, he kissed it, before guiding them both into the space above them, going for a flight around the nothingness that was his realm. Just like so many dreams ago.

They shared some idle chatter (“enjoying yourself?”, “Yes, thank you,” “Sorry that the view is the same everywhere,” “You said that last time as well”), some silent laughter and Alice could have sworn she could feel Nightmare squeeze her hand reassuringly when he made a particular sudden dive in mid air. They also shared one little incident of Nightmare not feeling too well again, though he managed to recover before the moment was lost.

A little while later, Nightmare decided to call it a dream and brought them to a halt in yet another soap bubble coloured location of the dream world.

“Thank you,” Alice said, hoping he misinterpreted her blush, while she tried to keep him out of her mind with all her might.

“Anything for you.” He bowed, pressing a kiss to her hand, while their surroundings were slowly growing darker.

~~~~

Alice woke up more tired than she had felt when she had gone for bed. Glancing over to Julius, she saw the clock-maker was taking a nap on his desk. Pieces of mechanics were neatly set aside. Just like Julius, even when he was dead tired, he would still clean up before collapsing of exhaustion.

Feeling a bit guilty for hogging his bed (“he offered it to you, not taking no” a voice not her own reminded her) she made herself comfortable before closing her eyes.

When she opened them again, she was once more met with the soap bubble landscape. Immediately Alice knew the dream demon had not misinterpreted her breathless state earlier.

“Welcome back,” a voice behind her said.


	2. Twice upon a dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alice learns to use her mind as a weapon.

“Good night Julius,” Alice mumbled, before climbing into bed.

“Tell Nightmare I want to talk to him later. Good night.”

Alice was too tired to bother asking for the details and just nodded at the back of the clock-maker’s head, knowing fully well that Julius could not see her. Not that it mattered.

~~~

“Julius wants to meet you later on.”

“I know.”

“Just saying.” Alice shrugged. _Why am I relaying messages when Nightmare keeps track of all that was going on?_

“Because Julius asked you to,” Nightmare responded to her thought.

“I told you to stop that.”

“Maybe you need practice shielding your mind,” Nightmare quipped jokingly.

Alice, however, did not see the humour in the remark. On the contrary, “that is not such a bad idea.” She smiled up at a startled Nightmare. “Will you please train me?”

A short silence, followed by, “…what?”

“Train me. You know, in order for me to keep my thoughts to myself.” Alice smiled at the oddly dressed dream world inhabitant.

“And how would you like to do that?”

“Well…” And Alice fell silent. How _was_ she going to do that. An idea popped in her head and she opened her mouth to vocalize it.

Before thinking better of it and holding her silence. Sadly, the exact reason for why she wanted to be able to shield her thoughts was standing right in front of her.

“That is just embarrassing yourself. Thinking of personal things and see how far I can read? Let me tell you this, the stronger the feeling, the easier to read.”

“So I’ve noticed,” Alice deadpanned.

“But I know all about you already, so it is a good idea.”

“That does not make sense.”

“But it does.”

Alice sighed. She would never understand him. “Ok, let’s do this.” Alice tried to focus on a strong emotion and felt her slip to a certain warm, red hue that… Quickly, she imagined icy rain to get a hold of herself. Nightmare did not need to read that just yet. Glancing at said dream dweller, she saw him shiver as if he was feeling the cold she was imagining. At least she had averted disaster _and_ tested if he was reading her again.

“Try imagining someone,” Nightmare quipped. Did she imagine the slyness to his voice? Imagine the little curve of his mouth? She was quite sure she wasn’t. So instead of falling for his trap, she closed her eyes and focused on another male.

“Alice, that much dislike is unhealthy. I feel sorry for poor Peter.”

Holding on to the thought of Peter and his over-clinginess, she tried to visualize a wall around herself, tried to feel out Nightmare’s aura in her mind and tried to lock him out. That was when she felt it, a little spark of white in the darkness, a different presence inside herself. She started focusing on that little spark of white. Mentally coming closer, she noted the white was not really white, but more like a sickly grey. Much like Nightmare himself, really. Focusing on the white (grey), she started learning the feel of Nightmare reading her mind and trying to block him out.

Opening her eyes, Alice looked at Nightmare. He looked like he always did: ashen and in serious need of a medical check-up. And he was giving no sign if she indeed had found him in her mind. Much help he was.

She tried to focus on the white (grey) speck she had felt earlier and block it out while she imagined a new environment inside her head. White corridors. The smell of disinfectant. A table with various objects including the biggest syringe she could remember having seen. The image was set. Glancing at Nightmare, Alice noted he still looked fine. So she did have him blocked out of her mind at the moment. Time to put things to the test. She let go of her control of the white speck.

Nightmare lay crumpled on the non-ground within half a second, shivering and mumbling to himself about traumatizing images and Alice wanting him dead.

So much for small pleasures.

Building a wall around the image, she noticed Nightmare getting back on his feet.

“Don’t do that.”

“Says he who enters someone else’s mind uninvited,” Alice countered.

“I thought I was invited this time?”

“Only for training,” Alice bit back. But she had to admit he was right. Presenting him with the worst thing she (and he himself) could imagine may have been a bit cruel. Even when he was not doing much to train her. She looked at Nightmare.

He did not reply to her non-spoken comment, which probably meant her mind block was still working. Alice smiled.

“Penny for your thought,” Nightmare said with a sly smile.

Alice couldn’t help but laugh at that and shook her head.

“A shame.”

Looking up into Nightmare’s face, Alice suddenly felt a blush creep up on her. The ashen colour seemed to have left the dream demon’s face in his mirth and the hidden meaning behind his slight smile made Alice tingle. She remembered previous dreams. “Anything for you” he had said. He had kissed her hand. She could still feel his hand holding hers.

“Yes Alice, fall in love with this country. Follow your heart.”

Something about the way he said that made her angry. Deciding that he was reading her mind again she wasted not a thought and imagined the syringe again. Who cares about cruelty when he was trespassing into her mind.

The expected cringe never came.

“Huh?”

“Sometimes, a face says more than a thought,” Nightmare said, smiling, as he slowly faded into the surroundings, only to reappear directly behind Alice. He let his hands trail through her hair. “Fall in love with this world, Alice.”

”Ah, or someone,” Alice whispered softly, before she even realizing she has vocalized the thought.

“Do as you please, Alice.” Nightmare kissed her hair, but to Alice, the gesture felt so much more personal. As if…

She couldn’t help the thought that sprang before her mind’s eye. Nightmare giving a soft kiss to her left cheek, moving a little to the right and closer to…

She kicked the thought back to where it had come from. Clearly she hadn’t kicked it quick or hard enough if Nightmare’s movement (or lack thereof) was any indication. Her hair slipped from his grasp.

He collected himself fairly quickly though.

“I think that is enough for today’s training,” he said, voice a little rough.

Alice turned to meet his gaze to tell him she agreed, but the only thing that left her mouth was a soft “ah” when her eyes met his single one. She was mesmerized, felt drawn to that gaze. Her body was moving closer to his.

When her senses came back to her, he was only a hair’s length away from her and before she could do anything, she felt his lips on hers.

For all their paleness, they were very nice, Alice decided.

The kiss ended as a soft peck on the lips, rather than a passion inspired show of affection for all the (dream) world to see (though frankly, in this dimension, that left only Nightmare and Alice themselves), but it was enough.

Unconsciously, Alice brought a hand to her lips, still feeling his.

“Sleep Alice. This dream has been a tiring one for the both of us. Rest,” and with that, Nightmare and the rest of the dream world faded into darkness.

~~~

When Alice awoke, she felt stronger, as if she had accomplished a particular goal. But for the love of her, she could not pin the details on what it was that she had done. Unconsciously, Alice brought a hand to her lips. Something lingered there, something nice. She smiled. Maybe she should ask Nightmare about that the next time she saw him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that wraps up my old little work - the first piece of fanfiction I ever posted on the internet.
> 
> Even with a work this aged, I appreciate the feedback.
> 
> Have some good dreams!


End file.
